The Traveler and the Sun Woman
by Blackbetsirose
Summary: One of many legends surrounding Ten and Donna post Journey's End.


The Traveler and the Sun Woman

Madrigan walked quickly through the streets towards the town center. He followed the crowds who had gathered rapidly at the news of the visitor. This visitor wasn't just any offworld visitor. It was one of the biggest legends that the storytellers of every Lundrian caste spoke of. By his time, these legends had become fairy tales of sorts, stories to tell children, and keep the storytellers traditions alive. But the box was here. It had appeared in the way the legends told. Perhaps the tales _were_ based in reality. Madrigan felt his excitement grow the closer he got to the town center. His mind flicked back over the stories that his own caste storyteller told.

It was a tale of a man, a man who could change faces. A great man who righted the wrongs of the universe. Who helped species all across the universe, and when it was needed, destroyed that which threatened the universe. He was known as The Traveler. He belonged to a race of beings, known to the Lundrians as the mighty Lords who controlled time itself. This man, it was said, defeated the greatest threat the universe had ever known, a Time War in which whole species disappeared as though they hadn't existed. The Lords of Time fought this War against beings who were half organic, half machine, known as Dah-lecks.

The Traveler ended this War, by sending away the other Lords of Time, their planet, the Dah-lecks and their planet somewhere. Madrigan scrunched his brow realizing he didn't know where the Lords of Time planet was sent, nor the Lords themselves, or the Dah-lecks. The legend spoke of burning.

Before this War the Traveler would travel helping others, hence his name. He would travel alone, save for a companion or sometimes two usually of a lesser species known as Hew-mans. After this War, when he was truly alone, having lost his race and planet, he continued to travel with Hew-mans.

There was another legend surrounding the Traveler, but this one had another with him. It was a Hew-man female. It was said she had hair that shone with the color of the blaze of a sun, and eyes the color of the rock of the Crispin Mountains. Her name was unknown, but the Lundrians called her the Sun Woman. She appeared in the Legend of the Missing Planets.

Many tens of years before Madrigan had been born, twenty-seven planets had gone missing. They had been hidden in a special place, a mystical place called the Medusa Cascade, by the Dah-lecks. The Oncoming Storm, with help from the Sun Woman, and several others of whom had accompanied him stopped it. But the Sun Woman, the legend said was magical. She had created another Traveler, became part Traveler herself, and together she, and both Travelers eliminated the Dah-lecks and a bomb to destroy reality itself. After this however, the Sun Woman, and the other Traveler vanished.

Now as Madrigan approached the town center, he searched the crowds for his friends. His name was called, and he looked toward the voice. "I greet you, Madrigan," a young male held out his hands.

"I greet you, Sundip," Madrigan replied, taking Sundip's hands. "Is it true? Has the box appeared?"

"It is, and it has. Over the hill, in Jonok's field."

Another part of the legends said that the Traveler travelled in a large blue box, that appeared and disappeared at will. It was said the box was small outside, but vast inside. A magic box. Madrigan and Sundip followed the crowd of people as they walked the high road that went to Jonok's land. There was chatter the entire way, but when the blue box was seen, it's light on top flashing, silence fell over the crowd. And the appearance of two beings walking from it, talking and laughing between them, caused a communal gasp that drew the beings' attention. Madrigan looked at them and crossed himself. Standing in front of him and his fellow townsfolk were the Traveler and the Sun Woman themselves.

Madrigan watched as the Traveler and the Sun Woman stopped in their tracks. They both waved, and he spoke. "Hello, I'm the Doctor," he gestured to the Sun Woman. "This is Donna." The Sun Woman waved and gave a small smile.

No one answered. Not one person. They all stood stunned staring at their legends come alive. The Traveler and the Sun Woman glanced at each other, before turning back to the crowd. "We're…we're just going to go back…" he trailed off, and the two started to walk back to the blue box.

"Wait!" Madrigan called out, the two beings halting at his words. "You're real. You exist."

"I certainly hope so," the Traveler replied with a small grin. "Otherwise life would be a little awkward. Well, a lot awkward actually."

"But you're a legend," Madrigan continued not noticing how the Traveler's face changed at the word 'legend'. "You're the Traveler. You're the face changer. And she's the Sun Woman. She's magic. She can make other people. You've a magic blue box that isn't what it appears on the outside. "

"Sun Woman?" the Sun Woman asked, giving the Traveler an odd look. "Magic? That one is a definite no. No magic here. Just a temp from Chiswick."

"Not just a temp, Donna, from Chiswick or otherwise," the Traveler argued, squeezing her hand. "Most important woman in creation, brilliant and beautiful," he punctuated this last statement with a kiss, which had Madrigan and his fellow Lundrians squeaking in surprise. "What?" the Traveler asked, his eyebrow raised. "Can't a man give his love a kiss?"

"The legends don't speak of the Traveler and the Sun Woman as lovers," Sundip's voice carried forward.

"Well, not saying we _are_ this traveler and sun woman you speak of, but we most definitely mmmph."

"Shut it Spaceman," the Sun Woman growled, clapping her hand over his mouth. "We're not airing our laundry to a bunch of strangers. Especially ones that think we're some sort of legendary people."

"About that," the Traveler carefully removed the Sun Woman's hand and turned his attention to the crowd. "Exactly who is this traveler, and sun woman your legends tell of?"

There was a sudden cacophony of sound as each Lundrian tried to tell them the legends, until the Sun Woman stuck two fingers in her mouth and whistled shrilly. "That's better," she said when the noise stopped. "Can just one of you tell the story?" She gestured at Madrigan. "You there. Why don't you tell us?"

Madrigan puffed with pride that these legendary beings would ask him to tell the tale. After a few hours, the Doctor and Donna, as they had been asked to call them, were thoroughly versed in the Lundrian legends that involved them. And when they were told that the Legend of the Missing Planets was essentially true, even the creation of the second Doctor (though not quite as magically as they had thought, even if a metacrisis still sounded magic), they didn't know quite what to say. But by the end of the visit, Madrigan was fast friends with the Doctor and Donna, and he and Sundip had been allowed inside the blue box which was called a TARDIS. It was most definitely different on the inside, than the outside.

They all watched, Madrigan and Sundip at the head of the crowd as the Doctor and Donna entered the TARDIS, and the blue box slowly disappeared. With the visit of the two legendary beings, the Lundrians now had new tales to tell and a new legend to spread. The Legend of the Traveler and the Sun Woman Who Came to Visit.


End file.
